Just because I say so.

Steve Brown:
Just because I say so. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus in the Bible is the radical grace of God. The sinners and suffers because life’s hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author, Steve Brown.

Steve Brown:
Thank you, Matthew. Hope you guys had a great weekend and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as mine. If you’re just joining us, we’re studying the book of Galatians and we began at fairly recently. I, along if I could choose one book to take with me to a deserted island, one book of the Bible, it would be a toss up between the book of Galatians and the book of Romans. Uh, and, uh, the reason is because these books deal with the very essence of the Christian faith. Ecclesiology is important. Theology is important. Christian philosophy is important. A Christian worldview is important, but when you talk about what’s the most important, it’s soteriology, in other words, it’s about salvation. It’s about how we walk it. It’s about the gospel. And there is probably no book in the Bible, that so clearly articulates that than the book of Galatians. And you know why? Because they had blown it, that’s why. You want to know how to do the right thing, do the wrong thing. You want to know how to make really smart comments, make really dumb ones. And that’s what’s going on in Galatians. So in the context of this kind of division and misunderstanding. Paul speaks a clear, incredible message of the gospel. And it’s not just the gospel for pagans so they can become believers, it’s the gospel for believers as we walk it, day by day. We’re looking at some of the major themes and we’re going to get back to that. Uh, but first let’s pray. Father, we come into your presence and we come into your presence surprised, delighted, amazed. We shouldn’t be here. What in the world are we here with you for, we’re not good enough. And we are not pure enough. And we haven’t been obedient enough, and yet your welcome has been clear and we praise you for that. Sufficient the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ finished, uh, sufficient the, the thing of the righteousness of Christ, which we wear, and we stand in your presence by invitation. Father, it doesn’t get any better than bad, and we praise you and we worship you. You know, everybody who’s listening to this broadcast and you know, the hard places, come alongside, be the comforter, the promise comforter, and remind us all in the good and the bad that you are a God, who is sufficient and good all the time. And then father as always, we pray for the one who teaches, that you would forgive him his sins because there are many, we would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen. If you were with us last week and a little bit, the week before, we’ve been opening up Galatians at the beginning, and we’ve done what is necessary for a proper exegesis and exposition of the book of Galatians. And you say, say what?, uh, in other words, we introduced it properly. I told you where he wrote it and some of the context of it and some, and generally the themes of it. And then we looked at the first 10 verses of the first chapter of Galatians. And we’re going to do that again. And we’re going to look, because that’s what Paul does. We’re going to look at the major themes that he sets out, the way a composer does a symphony at the beginning. And those themes are repeated over and over again in the book. This is what Paul writes in the first verse through the 10th verse of the book of Galatians in the first chapter.

Paul, an apostle– not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brethren who are with me. To the churches of Galatia: grace to you and peace from God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and father to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. I am astonished that you were so quickly deserting him who called you to the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that, which we preach to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say it again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.

Now, as I suggested throughout those verses, I just read to you, you get the beginning of the symphony. You begin to look at the themes that we’re going to examine in a lot more detail as we get into it, going through this book. Um, if you were listening last week and took notes, you know, that first we saw that this is a matter of truth. I mean, Paul’s not talking about how somebody feels about something. He’s talking about the absolute truth. Galatians 1:6.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ. Turning
to a different gospel.

Galatians 1:9,

If anyone is preaching to you, a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

That’s the truth. Galatians 1:10,

Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? If I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be as servant of God.

gospel repeated over and over again. Why is that? Because it’s the truth. Why is that? Because it’s the gospel. Why is that? Because it is of utmost importance. And then secondly, we saw that as Paul sets up these themes in his symphony, he talks about authority and apostleship. Galatians 1:1,

Paul, an apostle– not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God, the father, who raised him from the dead.

Talked a little bit about this last week, but let me confess to you that I have enough authority problem. In fact, I’d probably be a liberal, theologically, if I’d gone to a conservative seminary. I mean, there’s something in me that rebels against stop signs. And if you say to me it’s, because I say it, I’m going to go through the roof. I’m just not going to play that game. But one of the problems is that the Bible speaks of legitimate, real authority. And Paul says here, I’m speaking to you and you must listen because I am an apostle because I am the authority. There’s so many things, and I’m better than I used to be. So many things, so many places, so many areas where I submit to authority, even when I think the authority is wrong, because when God anoints a leader, God’s people are to follow that leader. Now, do we do it without a peep? Are you kidding? Do we not correct, and say, what are you some kind of nut that you would say something, of course we do that, we’re called to be honest and real in our reactions to the places where we’re called. But with all of that being said, we need to say I’m a servant of Christ and I follow the anointed of Christ. Because the anointed of Christ will eventually after maybe doing some really dumb things, eventually a servant, an anointed servant of Christ will go in the right direction and will do the right thing and will lead me in the paths where God would have me go. So, I’m not suggesting that we’re going to become instep people marching along following our leader, who says he’s our leader. No, no, no. But we are to look at those who are our leaders that have been set aside who love Christ and believe the scriptures. And then we need to hold up their arms. We need to pray for them. We need to serve them. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you, Steve. That was Steve Brown, resuming his guided tour through the book of Galatians. Today, pointing out the sites in the first ten verses of the first chapter. This is really good stuff, so I hope you’ll join us again tomorrow. And for the rest of the week. Well, as you may know, Steve sometimes says things that sound provocative, but on a closer look are absolutely Biblical and completely Orthodox. That’s why I have to laugh every time I mention the title of Steve’s classic book,Three Free Sins, on its face, it just sounds outrageous. And yet the book is about what Key Life itself is about, grace. For a limited time, we’re offering a Three Free Sins booklet featuring some excerpts from that book. Get your copy now by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also request the booklet by emailing [email protected]. If you’re mailing us, send your request to

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